The Detroit Lions have kicked off the Tuesday’s trade deadline action by making the first move of the day.
The Lions have acquired edge rusher Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick. Detroit will also get a 2026 seventh-rounder along with Smith, according to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones. This was a long-awaited deal as Pro Football Talk previously reported that it was expected to go down and has since come to fruition.
The Lions have their sights set on competing for a Super Bowl this year, but they lost star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson to a season-ending leg injury. Now, they are bringing Smith aboard to come in and make an immediate impact along the edge and help cushion the blow of Hutchinson’s departure.
This season, Smith has tallied five sacks and seven quarterback hits in nine games.
Smith actually addressed the trade speculation a couple weeks ago, telling reporters he couldn’t predict what was going to happen. But he did say playing for Detroit would be nice since he would get to play two of his former teams.
“Hate that injury happened to [Hutchinson], a guy that was on his way to get Defensive Player of the Year possibly. That’s a big loss for them,” Smith said, via BrownsZone.com. “But if I was to go to Detroit, I would like it, because I get to play Green Bay twice a year and the Vikings twice a year. So, yeah, that’ll be big.”
At the time of his injury, Hutchinson was leading the NFL in sacks, QB hits and pressures. While Smith likely won’t be able to recreate the kind of impact Hutchinson had on opposing offenses, he is an experienced sack artist with 65 QB takedowns to his name. Detroit absolutely had to do something to boost its pass rush, as no active Lion recorded more than 2.5 sacks through the first eight games of the season.